Amsterdam trip ends in court fine

A sex offender breached his suspended prison sentence by failing to notify police that he was going on holiday abroad, a court heard.
Liverpool Crown CourtLiverpool Crown Court
Liverpool Crown Court

Ironically Rhys Lavin had played it by the book when he first took a trip to Amsterdam but the second time did not do so.

The 25-year-old had been ordered to sign the Sex Offenders Register after his conviction for sex assault last summer and that required him to notify the police if he went abroad within seven years.

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Liverpool Crown Court heard that Lavin went to Amsterdam and dutifully told police about that trip but as his flight was delayed for 15 hours he was given a free flight as compensation.

When he went on that trip he told his probation officer but did not tell the police, though the probation service notified them, said David McLachlan, prosecuting.

Lavin, of Caste Hill Road, Hindley, pleaded guilty to breaching the terms of the Sex Offenders order and by that offence breaching the six month suspended prison sentence he had received.

Judge Denis Watson, QC, told him they were “serious matters which cannot be overlooked.”

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He ordered him to carry out 40 hours unpaid work and fined him £400 with 14 days in prison in default of payment.

David Polglase, defending, said that Lavin had pleaded guilty and urged the judge not to activate the suspended sentence as it was not the most serious of breaches.

At his original sentencing hearing at Liverpool Crown Court, the former soldier was sentenced to six months’ imprisonment suspended for 18 months and ordered to carry out 250 hours’ unpaid work.

Judge Andrew Hatton also placed him under supervision for 12 months and ordered him to sign on the Sex Offenders’ Register for seven years.

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Lavin had earlier pleaded guilty to the sexual assault which took place on October 8 last year. The court heard his victim, who was just 19 at the time of the attack, was set upon in the bedroom of her rented flat by Lavin who had come to fix a faulty radiator.

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